Annual Measure M Public Hearing Set Feb. 12 For Taxpayers Oversight Committee

Half-Cent Sales Tax Is Driving Force Behind Local Transportation Improvements

ORANGE – The Measure M Taxpayers Oversight Committee (TOC) is conducting its annual public hearing on Measure M, the half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements approved by voters in 1990 and renewed in 2006. Measure M is administered by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA).

The hearing is set for 6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 12 at OCTA headquarters, 600 S. Main St. in Orange.

The independent, 11-member oversight committee was formed to monitor OCTA’s use of Measure M funding, approve all changes to the Measure M plan and hold annual public hearings on the expenditure of funds generated by Measure M.

At the meeting, committee members will report about their role in the implementation of Measure M and review their activities during the past year. Committee Chairman David Sundstrom, who is also the County Auditor-Controller, will run the hearing.

"The Taxpayers Oversight Committee has a critical role in the implementation of Measure M," Sundstrom said. "Our primary goal is to ensure that all revenue collected from Measure M is spent on voter-approved projects that will improve transportation in Orange County."

By 2011, Measure M will have made possible nearly $4.2 billion worth of transportation improvements. Hundreds of local projects that impact residents every day have been completed. This includes improvements to nearly every freeway in the county, widening streets, signal coordination and intersection improvements. Measure M also made possible Metrolink commuter-rail service in Orange County.

Orange County voters renewed Measure M in November 2006 by a vote of nearly 70 percent. An Early Action Plan was created to begin delivering transportation improvements before M2 begins in 2011.

For more information about Measure M and the Taxpayers Oversight Committee, visit www.octa.net.